Athlete Arrested In Attack At Um

June 21, 1996|By LYNN CARRILLO and LUISA YANEZ Miami Bureau

CORAL GABLES - — There's violence at the University of Miami. Again. A football player is involved. And just like the brutal murders of linebacker Marlin Barnes and his girlfriend Timwanika Lumpkins in April, it happened in an on-campus apartment.

Two months after Barnes and Lumpkins were killed, wide receiver Jammi German was arrested on Thursday for attacking a fellow athlete.

Maxwell Voce, 23, captain of the track team, told Coral Gables police that four or five football players cornered him about 9 p.m. Wednesday while others viciously punched him.

Voce said the group burst into his apartment while he was eating dinner, began yelling, then struck him in the face, kneed him in the stomach and shoved him into a corner.

"German was the main catalyst," Coral Gables Sgt. Mitchell Fry said. "The detectives are talking about possibly more being arrested. They're still working the case."

German, 22, a senior, is charged with assault and battery and burglary. He's in the Dade County jail.

Under investigation are linebackers James Burgess, 22, a senior, and Jeffrey Taylor, 22, a junior, police said. They may have been among up to seven players involved in the attack, police said.

The incident is the most recent in a string of headline-grabbing events that have rocked the university in the past year. The murder of Barnes and Lumpkins was the latest. In December, the NCAA slapped on sanctions for Pell grant fraud, lack of institutional control and drug test improprieties, among other things. If the beating charges prove to be true, punishment will be swift, Athletic Director Paul Dee said. Penalties could range from suspension from the football team to expulsion from the university.

"We are still looking into the situation," Dee said at an afternoon news conference. "We will take appropriate action once we have all the facts and have a full determination of what occurred."

Neither Burgess nor Taylor could be reached for comment. German went before Circuit Court Judge Amy Karan briefly on Thursday afternoon. He is being held without bail.

According to witnesses, Voce and German's occasional date, Fredericka Minnella, here's what happened: Minnella lent her car to Voce. This angered German, who - according to Minnella - questioned why Minnella was lending her car to Voce.

At 9 p.m. Wednesday night - with the campus mostly empty for summer vacation - German, along with several others, pushed through the unlocked door of Voce's apartment. The apartment is less than a block from where Barnes and Lumpkins were murdered.

"They were yelling at me, saying things," Voce said. "Then they started hitting me and I just tried to get out and run."

After several blows to the face, bruises and cuts, Voce escaped from the group. He called police, who arrested German in his dorm room at 1:31 a.m.

German has long been one of UM's top players. But troubles have plagued him.

In January, the state and the NCAA launched an investigation into who paid for the rental of a limousine used by three UM football players, including German, in December 1995. There have been allegations that a professional football agent improperly paid for the ride.

A state official declined comment on the investigation, which is ongoing.

And last March, German's knee was seriously injured during a practice. It was unclear whether he would be able to play at the start of this fall's season.

Voce's father, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, said police and the university should take action.

"I am extremely disturbed at the atrocity of seven football players attacking my son on the university campus at his own apartment," said Allan Voce. "This can not be swept under the rug."